1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to wireless communications and, more particularly, to a radio base station design having expanded traffic capacity.
2. Description of the Related Art
Wireless communication has experienced explosive growth. In just a few years cellular telephone usage has soared, and growth continues as wireless Internet access improves. This explosive growth has revolutionized data and voice communication, and manufacturers are continually striving to improve wireless equipment to meet the explosive growth.
Radio base stations are one example of continuously improving wireless equipment. Radio base stations are self-contained enclosures that house transmitters, receivers, and other wireless communication equipment. These radio base stations are then installed to provide the best coverage with the least interference.
Radio base stations, however, often limit expansion. As demand for wireless service increases, this demand may exceed the traffic capacity of the radio base station. A 3×7 radio base station, for example, serves three (3) cells, or sectors, with seven (7) radios per sector. As more and more wireless customers are added to the network, the capacity of the 3×7 radio base station is exceeded. If wireless service providers want to match the demand for wireless service, the wireless service provider must increase the capacity of the radio base station.
Increasing the capacity of a radio base station, however, is a huge effort. Any redesign of the radio base station often requires thousands of hours and hundreds of peoples. Many engineers are required to design the new base station. Testing personnel spend hundreds of hours testing the new design and ensuring government regulations are achieved. Manufacturing engineers must design new tooling and processes to produce the new design. Many other people are simultaneously involved in marketing and selling the new radio base station design. These redesign efforts, therefore, may require months, or even years of effort.
Once the redesigned radio base station is available, the new design is expensive. A single radio base station, for example, may cost $350,000 to $400,000. Because a wireless network often includes one hundred (100) or more radio base stations, upgrading the capacity of the entire network may cost tens, or even hundreds, of millions of dollars. If wireless service providers, therefore, need to increase the capacity of their radio base stations, this upgrade in capacity is a long and expensive process.
There is, accordingly, a need in the art for a radio base station design that is easily upgraded to larger capacities, a radio base station design that may be quickly upgraded to meet demand, and, yet, a radio base station design that can resolve the prior art problems without large capital outlays.